Five months down

Our little girl turned 5 months old yesterday. She marked the occasion by ruining one outfit in an unfortunate diaper incident, and later slathering rice cereal all over her face. Here's a list of some of the things she's mastered in her short time with us:
-- Rolling over (mainly from her back to her tummy)
-- Holding her bottle
-- Talking and laughing with her mouth full of cereal (see photo)
-- Sleeping through the night
-- Yanking the spoon out of my hand during dinner and trying to feed herself, although the cereal is just as likely to end up in her hands, up her nose or on her eyelashes as it is in her mouth (see photo)
-- Petting the cat without causing him to attack her in return. Although yesterday, she decided putting her fingers in his ear was also kind of fun and was eyeing his whiskers before Beaudie denied her the chance to find out what they felt like by jumping out of her reach
-- Grabbing her toes and lifting her legs up to help us out while getting her diaper changed
-- Sitting up without support (see photo)
-- Wrapping Mommy and Daddy, not to mention her grandparents, around her little finger

A seat at the table

Finally, Gillian can stop staring at us from her swing while we eat dinner. She made her move to the table official last night, sitting in her highchair for the first time and getting her first taste of food. OK, so it was only single grain rice cereal, but we all have to start somewhere! She loved sitting in her chair and playing with the toys, and while confused at first about why Mommy was sticking that blue thing in her mouth, she quickly got into the spirit of things by trying to feed herself.

Happy Birthday Uncle Tommy!

Hitting the bottle

The doctor was quite impressed at Gillian's latest checkup with her ability to hold her bottle, take it out of her mouth, and put it back in. They told Bob they usually don't see that until babies are 9 months. Always the overachiever, she has now moved on to trying to put OUR bottles in her mouth as well. She is showing a particular fondness for my Cokes and Bob's beer.